Film breakdown: Nick Foles' pocket presence

At the 2012 NFL Combine, Nick Foles ran a 5.14 second 40 yard dash. Of the 14 quarterbacks that participated in that drill, Foles finished dead last. Yesterday against the Buccaneers, we saw Foles' complete lack of speed on his 10 yard TD run in the 2nd quarter. Foles' snail-like run prompted some funny reactions on Twitter, with these two being my personal favorites:

Nick Foles will never be mistaken for Michael Vick in terms of foot speed. However, foot speed should not be confused with mobility and pocket presence, which Foles displayed yesterday afternoon in Tampa. Let's look at 5 plays from yesterday's game when Foles did a good job evading pressure and making a play.

Play #1:

The first play was on 3rd and 4. Foles takes a 7 step drop, and both DEs gain the edge on OTs King Dunlap and Dennis Kelly. Foles drop may have actually dropped too deep here, but for now we'll let that go:

The two DEs converge on Foles, but look at Foles' head. It never comes off the action down the field:

He calmly steps up, and a 4 man collision occurs behind him. Note again his eyes staying down the field:

He rolls to the right a little to buy even more time and fires downfield to Jason Avant:

39 yard gain:

This was actually not even a good pass. Foles placed the ball a little too close to the sideline, not allowing Avant to run after the catch. Still, Avant is able to keep his feet in for the long completion, and the play was made because Foles never stopped scanning the field while he evaded pressure.

Play #2:

The next play was on a blitz by the Bucs. They are sending 6, all circled in yellow. The player circled in red, Ahmad Black, is the guy that is going to come free at Foles:

The Eagles' OL accounts for 5 of the rushers, but Black is completely unblocked:

Foles makes a little subtle move to his right, not allowing Black to get a clean shot on him, and still has enough arm to throw 27 yards downfield and to the sideline, again to Avant:

This was the play Avant made that amazing catch, and the Eagles converted on 3rd and 17:

Obviously, Avant helped his QB out bigtime, but that throw was put in a place where either Avant was going to get it, or nobody was going to get it. You don't convert many 3rd and 17 opportunities when the defense gets a safety with a free rush at your QB, but Foles and Avant both made great plays here.

Play #3:

This next play was another conversion in which Foles and Avant beat the Bucs' blitz on 3rd down. On this play, there isn't much of a clean pocket for Foles to step up into, but there is just enough for him to be able to get the ball off cleanly.

He doesn't have enough time to re-set his feet with the pocket collapsing around him, so Foles throws while (sort of) on the run as he steps up into what's left of the pocket:

That was an accurate strike to Avant who was open over the middle for a first down.

Play #4:

Here's a play that impressed me, despite a negative result. The Bucs are sending seven rushers this time, again on 3rd and long. The rushers are circled:

The Eagles' OL blocks it up nicely, with the exception of RT Dennis Kelly, who allows DE Michael Bennett to get the edge (top of the screen):

But Foles doesn't panic. He steps up, brushes off the arm tackle of Bennett, and immediately moves to his right to evade the rush:

He hangs in for as long as he can before firing to the sideline while getting hit by DT Gerald McCoy:

A Bucs defender wound up breaking up the play near the sideline, but this was a great job of Foles moving just enough to buy extra time to let his routes develop down the field.

Play #5:

This was my favorite play of the game. It was Foles' first TD throw of the 4th quarter, to Clay Harbor. A familiar sight, once again... The Bucs DEs get the edge on the Eagles' OTs:

But once again, Foles steps up away from the pressure and moves to his right, never taking his eyes off the receivers down the field:

At this point, there are no defenders near him. When plays break down like this, this is where QBs like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are deadly. They can just wait for a receiver to come free, and fire:

Foles fires just before reaching the line of scrimmage:

Touchdown:

This is the window that Foles had to throw into. This ball had zip, and accuracy, while Foles was on the run. Impressive:

In the NFL, you don't always need foot speed to avoid pressure. If you have good pocket presence and you keep your eyes down the field, sometimes all it takes is a subtle move within the pocket to buy more time and make a play. That's what we saw from Nick Foles yesterday.